The present invention relates to a feeding apparatus for continuously feeding nuts and the like, such as weld nuts or clinch nuts, onto a workpiece to which the nuts are installed.
A nut feeding apparatus comprising a conductor cylinder having a feeder opening provided at a lower side wall of the cylinder to which nuts and the like are continuously fed from a feeding chute, a plunger fitted in the conductor cylinder slidably up and down having a free end for ejecting nuts and the like fed from the feeder opening, and a temporary support member for temporarily supporting nuts and the like which are fed one by one into the conductor cylinder from the feeder opening is known as disclosed in Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-22718 and 52-57486. However, the conventional nut feeding apparatus is designed to release the temporary support member by the action of nuts and the like ejected by the plunger, giving rise to various problems, such as nuts and the like being scratched by direct contact with the temporary support member or being unable to be held horizontal.